The talent is there, and it's wasted on a game like this which, fun as it is, doesn't live up to the promise of its screenshots.

Bayonetta 2 will challenge some people. It will make the uncomfortable. It's transgressive in numerous ways, and with that comes the potential to offend. But in causing offence, Bayonetta 2 encourages conversation, and that's the very definition of a good work of art.

Sunset Overdrive is just what the Xbox One needed - a distinctive exclusive to set the thing apart from the PlayStation 4. Titanfall was adequate and the Forza games are great for racing fans, but Sunset Overdrive is a glorious breath of fresh air.

With a rocking soundtrack, loads of content, plenty of fan service and some clever gelling of two disparate video game universes, Hyrule Warriors is easily my favourite game of 2014 so far.

It does what it promises in offering a fast runner-style game, and it's nice that the developers went as far as to offer completely new level layouts each day, but ultimately this is as shallow as the likes of Doodle Jump or Temple Run, and costs an order of magnitude more money.

I don't want to sound too harsh with this game, because it does have that beautiful ability to make the hours fly by. I just can't see this being more than a flash in the pan kind of game that's going to lose its appeal far more quickly than it deserves.

I love that games like Fluster Cluck are leading the charge of local, social, multiplayer, and I hope it continues indefinitely. Being able to experience actual living room mayhem again as you did back in the day when friends would come over for epic SNES and N64 sessions is still a blast 15 years later.

Prophour23 is clearly not a game built for the mass market - it's for the gaming equivalent of mad scientists, treasure seekers and cult-genre lovers.

I just hope that F1 2015 has an engine for the new generation of consoles and puts the series back on track.

For all the games’ narrative themes of consciousness-probing, identity-subsuming science, the reordering of the psychic self for a greater application of the flesh, I needed to look no further than my own pathological gameplay in its honour. The rage quits, the restarts, the late nights, the infinitesimal adjustments to my thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth attempts, all part of my drive to survive to the end, no matter how many hours of hell it took.

Forza's combination of speed, presentation values, excellent handling and flexibility in letting players approach the game in a variety of ways makes it really hard to put the controller down.

Having a complex customisation and battle system, means that whenever a new player comes along the first few rounds are quite dull while they learn the ropes. And by the time they've learned the ropes it's time to move on to the next game.

It simply comes across as decidedly average and without an ideal target audience.

It's silly, but taken in the right sense, it's a satirical adventure that sits on the right side of quality entertainment.

While there is some action to be had here, do not play Lone Survivor: The Director's Cut looking to score perfect headshots or cheap scares. The pace is slower and as a result the sense of horror is more palpable, memorable experience.

I loved the game when I played it as a freebie on PlayStation Plus ages ago. I love it even more on my shiny, powerful, PlayStation 4.

Looking back on this review, I’m actually a bit depressed that the highlight of the game (for me, at least) was simply how good Ryse looked. It’s obvious that Crytek is capable of so much more, but Ryse simply borrows the best that a few franchises has to offer, and instead chooses to cobble them together quite lazily with a few superfluous mechanics thrown in for good measure, rather than refining and building upon the core game.

This is a game for genre fans only (and by that I do mean fans of both visual novels and tactics RPGs). For those people the game will slowly but surely hook its charms in until they come to see it as something quite brilliant for all its flaws.

The reality is that Samurai Warriors 4 is nothing short of brilliant, and a huge leap forward into the new generation of game design by Koei. It's cinematic, its beautiful, it's fast and entertaining, and if you allow it to be, it's even a little educational. And that makes it inspiring.

Tenkai Knights: Brave Battle is not broken. But it lacks even the slightest hint of creativity or effort within it. To say corners were cut to quickly cash in on the license is an understatement, and by extension this is nothing short of sheer exploitation. That's offensive.

For anime fans, it's literally pulling together some of the brightest minds in the industry and allowing them to run free with a very creative format. Short stories are always less inhibited than full-length projects, and if nothing else, everything that we find in the Short Peace package is very creative indeed.

Between a battle system unlike anything I’ve seen before and a story that pushes the boundaries of comedy, Akiba’s Trip has plenty of personality going for it. Expanding on the world of Akihabara itself would have elevated the experience into a truly classic one, but as is, fans of niche experiences still ought to take this trip.

Though TRI lacks the polish and presentation of the more popular Portal titles, its sheer accessibility and serenity mark it out as something genuinely different, and as such deserves to be noticed.

It is a fun, balanced and accessible fighter by a veteran development team that knows how to make an excellent arcade fighting game. However, it still finds a way to be true to the source material, despite the game being of a very different genre.

If being humiliated and demoralised by in-game defeat is synonymous to Mel’s downfall, achieving victory in battle is a feeling equivalent to earning a billion dollars just for punching your life-long nemesis in the face.

Driveclub is a fun racing game that takes a little getting used to but lacks some of the options I would have expected from a modern racing game.

The Banner Saga asks a lot of its players, especially in the early chapters, but those who stay for the long run will enjoy a mature, character focused story which is both challenging and memorable.

There have been a handful of Alien games over the years, but none have delivered an experience so close to the intent of the films as Isolation. With visuals authentic enough to have been ripped right from the movies and a terrifyingly intelligent monster as the primary antagonist, Alien: Isolation makes for a memorable experience, and clear proof that Colonial Marines was the fault of the developer and not the material.